


A Madness Shared by Two

by Fredzina



Category: ATEEZ (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Angst, Anxiety Attacks, Apocalypse, Childhood Friends, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Character Death, Platonic Relationships, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Zombie Apocalypse, can be read as platonic or romantic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-17
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:27:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25961311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fredzina/pseuds/Fredzina
Summary: The apocalypse has destroyed the world, tearing apart families, some were able to find refuge in underground camps. Yeosang being one of those lucky few. What happens when suddenly a familiar face shows up?
Relationships: Jung Wooyoung & Kang Yeosang, Jung Wooyoung/Kang Yeosang
Kudos: 33





	A Madness Shared by Two

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is a gift for my best friend!
> 
> I had initially started this a few months ago, but alas life had gotten in the way and I wasn't able to finish it until now so sorry if the quality dips some towards the end

_“Keep your mind busy, keep yourself occupied, find things to do. If you're doing things, then you still exist, right?”-Alex Gordon Smith_

The basket of carrots was heavier in Yeosang’s arms than they should have been, the woven wicker digging into his bruised ribs uncomfortably. Joonyoung was still hesitant to allow him to participate in any form of labor, but he was grateful for the work. He knew if Joonyoung really had his way it would be at least another week before he was allowed to move things, but he also understood Yeosang’s need for movement, something to keep his mind away from the events of their last mission. 

Dropping the basket on the cart, his ribs groaned in protest, he ignored them in favor of picking up another empty basket. “You know you can take a break if you need to Yeosang-ah” Eden spoke over his clipboard, observant as ever. “I’m fine,” he stated with perhaps a bit too much edge. He could feel the older’s eyes penetrating his skull all the way back to the garden. He handed the basket to one of the other workers, watching as she carefully glided through the meticulously planted rows of crops towards the cabbages. 

Glancing up at the artificial lights, his mind wandered back to when he had first arrived at KQ. It had been nearly a year ago when he had been picked up by a small scouting team, he later learned that their names, Seonghwa and Mingi. They had shot the crawler that had pounced on him from behind, he surely would have been dead if it weren’t for them. They had taken him in their SUV to meet up with the rest of their scouts. He was the only person they had found in weeks. 

Arriving at KQ had been something of a fever dream, he was rushed inside the base and to a medic. But as he was being rushed off he managed to catch glimpses of the enormous underground base. Their agriculture system had come as a surprise to him. During his laborious recovery, he had spent much time with the livestock, allowing his fingers to sink into their cloud-like wool. He still loved to visit there, to observe them. It brought him a sense of peace, knowing that these animals were well cared for and oblivious to the horrors that laid just above them. 

Once he had fully recovered Yeosang was more than happy to fall into the monotonous routine of the chores that were required to keep KQ running. During the day he could forget about the monsters that lurked in his brain, waiting to be unleashed, instead, focusing on the burn in his muscles as he carried heavy bags of grain. The routine was welcomed, he slowly began to talk to some of the others, but he never opened up. There was little common ground between himself and most of the people down here, most of them having lived down here since the beginning of the end of the world. He found that he didn’t really mind the mindless chatter, Yeosang was never one for conversation, to begin with. He was content with just existing within the sea of people in this tin can. 

However, as it neared the end of the second month since his arrival, he found himself fixated on the scouts who left every other week. They never brought back any more people, sometimes they lucked out with some extra supplies, but often returned empty-handed. Yeosang failed to understand the scouts. How could they stomach facing the crawlers above? Those creatures had destroyed his life, haunting his nights and days. He couldn't sleep without dreaming of their yellowed bodies tearing at the supple flesh of his mother, their teeth sinking into her neck as she gurgled on her own blood. The terrified screams of his caravan as they witnessed their loved ones being torn to shreds. But after seeing them bring back another survivor, a young girl, he began to understand. 

Eventually he joined them. As much as he hated the idea of facing those devils again, he loathed the idea of there being more hopeless people out there searching for a safe haven more so. Yeosang had been traveling out into the above for months now, less and less survivors coming back with them each mission. Their last mission had been a royal failure, not only had Yeosang managed to get himself injured, but they lost two kids as well. His hands dug into the wicker, guilt pressing uncomfortably against his chest. Air rushed into his lungs as he tried to release the tension in his body, he had work to do and the rest of the scouts should be coming back soon. As if on cue, the large metal door rattled open, followed by the sounds of boots hitting the catwalk as the jumped off the ladder rungs. Turning around to see who all had made it back, Yeosang froze. 

_Wooyoung._ Yeosang faintly registered the sound of cabbage heads rolling across the linoleum floor, but it was hard to make out over the roaring in his ears. His chest was collapsing in on itself, his limbs tingling with recognition. Pinpricks ran through his spine, his body in a battle between being too cold and too hot. 

He took a step forward, his leaden foot, stamping into the ground. He took another step, his body was fighting to move upstream, his nerves on fire. _It couldn’t be._ Suddenly, his senses became unclogged and he could _breathe._ His lungs burned with the sudden intake of oxygen. His head was static as he forced himself to rush up the staircase, it rattling under his uneasy footsteps. His hand clutched around the metal railing as he used it to propel himself forward. “Wooyoung,” he breathed, his eyes burning uncomfortably as he refused to blink, too scared the mirage before him would vanish. The shorter figure turned towards him. His inky black hair sticking up wildly, clumps of dirt, flesh, and blood woven in the strands. His face was covered in grime, his left cheek scarred with claw marks. They were old and protruded from his flesh slightly, clearly not having healed properly. He was leaning heavily against a taller man, whom Yeosang only now placed as Yunho. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from his face, the way his nostrils flared with each labored breath, he was clearly in pain but Yeosang could only focus on the fact that he was _breathing._

“Yeosang,” he whispered in disbelief, tears escaping from the corners of his eyes. He tried to take a step forward but stumbled, letting out a pained yelp as Yunho scrambled to keep him upright, his body going completely limp and his face contorting in pain. Yeosang forced himself forward, ignoring his ribs as he wrapped Wooyoung’s other arm around his shoulder. His arms burned his skin like a brand, it was sticky with sweat and other bodily fluids. But it was a reminder that Wooyoung was _alive._

“Come on, we have to get him to the infirmary.” Yeosang nodded, forcing his mind to focus on the task as though it were a mission, pushing aside his emotions. Over the year that he was alone above, learning to compartmentalize and prioritize had saved his life. With time he grew accustomed to shoving his emotions in a filing cabinet marked later, and could only hope he would remember to check the drawer again. They managed to get the shorter man down the stairs and towards the lift. The ride down two floors was silent minus the occasional noises Wooyoung would release. Yeosang refused to look at his friend, not yet ready to deal with the emotions that would surely override his system, the virus seeping into his brain and crashing down his mission orientated programming. 

Stepping out of the elevator they were met with a stretcher. Joonyoung, already in doctor mode, ordered for them to lay the injured man down, the other medics quickly set to work in positioning his body properly. The young doctor fixed Yeosang with a look, his eyes momentarily drifting to his bruised abdomen, _I’ll deal with you later,_ it said. Wooyoung was whisked away and through the sliding doors, Anxiety burned through Yeeosang’s system, everything telling him to not let the raven-haired boy out of his sight again. He felt cold without the heat of Wooyoung’s fevered induced body. 

Vulnerable, he was vulnerable, his brain hacked, all his systems rebooting, alarms were blaring, all of his files of Wooyoung on display. The fluorescent lights above were blinding, the walls were trembling, and where was that screaming coming from? He clamped his hands over his ears, nails digging into his scalp, the cold linoleum floor beneath his knees morphed into the hard soil of the forest. A scream to his left drew his attention back to the situation at hand. His sister was pinned to the earth, a crawler had sunk its teeth into the juncture between her neck and shoulder. Red blood spurted from the wound like a morbid sprinkler, droplets splattering against her pale skin and the decaying yellowed flesh of the creature looming over her. Blood bubbled past her pink lips, dribbling down her chin, her coffee brown eyes staring at Yeosang in horror. 

One of the monsters slammed into him from behind, his body kicked into survival mode and immediately fought back, the two bodies went rolling down the hill, leaves, and twigs crunching under their weight. Yeosang couldn’t tell which scream was his and which was the crawlers. Their bodies slammed into the earth at the bottom of the hill, Yeosang let out a wheeze as the oxygen was pushed out of his lungs. The crawler had been thrown off his body by the force of their landing but it was already beginning to get up, its spindly limbs twisting themselves to stand in a crawling position. Its left leg hung limply, its hip protruding unnaturally from the rest of its body, clearly dislocated. Its haunted green eyes fixated on Yeosang, an animalistic growl rupturing from its chest as it pounced towards him. He scrambled for the knife that was strapped at his side but it must have been lost in the struggle. 

His body turned frigid at the realization that he was weaponless. He waited for the impact of the crawler’s body crashing back into him, but it never came. Glancing up he saw Wooyoung standing above the creature, pulling a blade out of its skull with a sneer, chest heaving. He glanced up at Yeosang, relief filling his eyes at seeing that he was okay. He failed to see the two crawlers right behind him. “WOOYOUNG!”

“YEOSANG! Yeosang! Hey, hey, there you are.” a hand carefully came up to cradle his face, he flinched a little, but he relaxed under the familiar touch of the calloused thumb brushing his cheek. His eyes danced wildly across the plains of the face in front of him, brain rebooting and registering it as Hongjoong.

“Hongjoong,” he breathed collapsing into the embrace of his friend. 

“Yeah, that’s right. You’re in KQ. You’re right here.” he whispered softly, rubbing a hand on his back. Yeosang choked on a quiet sob. Minutes passed between them when finally, he pulled out of Hongjoong’s embrace. 

“Where’s Yunho?” he glanced around, finally taking into account where he was, he was in one of the medical examination rooms. 

“He’s outside, I told him to wait outside after we managed to get you in here. I was on my way down once Seonghwa had told me about a survivor.” Hongjoong hesitated on his next words, his tongue darting across his lips. “Uh, from what the others told me, you- do you know him? The survivor I mean?” he continued to stare at Yeosang, he looked exhausted, his defenses battered, and weather-worn. Too much was placed on his shoulders at far too young an age, it was surprising that he hadn’t completely snapped yet. Yeosang looked down at his hands, his nails had a layer of dirt under them from the garden work. 

“Its Wooyoung.” Hongjoong stiffened in his peripheral. All of the scouts with the inclusion of Hongjoong knew about Wooyoung. Joonyoung and Eden had an inkling of who he was, if only from what they had pieced together through parts of conversations and some of Yeosang’s night terrors. 

“Are you sure?” at the sight of Yeosang’s glare Hongjoong immediately changed directions. “Right, sorry.” the brunet sighed. 

“No, it’s my fault, it’s just-”

“A lot?” the shorter asked, eyebrow raised, Yeosang nodded. 

“Yeah, I just-” he looked over at the older, a sea of emotions swarming within his pupils. “He’s alive. Hongjoong, he’s- Wooyoung’s _alive.”_

_“Farewells can be shattering, but returns are surely worse. Solid flesh can never live up to the bright shadow cast by its absence. Time and distance blur the edges; then suddenly the beloved has arrived, and it's noon with its merciless light, and every spot and pore and wrinkle and bristle stands clear” - Margaret Atwood_

Hongjoong had to leave shortly after their discussion, the downside of being head councilmen. The rest of the scouts, with the exclusion of Seonghwa, were freed of their schedules. Seonghwa went with Hongjoong to discuss the findings from their missions. After Hongjoong had left Yunho came rushing into the room, delivering a gentle smack to Yeosang’s shoulder. “You scared me, don’t do that again anytime soon.” his voice was light and joking, but his usual big puppy eyes were brimmed with concern. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to plan for my next mental break down better.” Laughter bubbled up from Yunho, his head thrown back. 

“Alright sounds good.” Joonyoung came in a few minutes afterward, looking ready to collapse on the ground. Soundlessly he glided over towards the sink and filled up a disposable cup of water and handed it to Yeosang. 

“Drink.” He ordered, leaning against one of the cabinets. He ran a hand through his bangs, eyes glazing over Yeosang. “You shouldn’t have helped carry him down here, you are still recovering from your last mission, and I already am letting you return to work a week earlier than I wanted to,” he stated sternly, as professional as ever. Yeosang winced slightly at the ridicule. Even though Joonyoung was younger than himself, even younger than Jongho it was hard not to take him seriously. Despite his short stature and his baby face, he was calm and collected, and knew that he was valued as a medic here, and he took his position very seriously. 

“But,” he began, features softening as he looked the other over, “I’m pretty sure I know who he is, and I can’t necessarily fault you.” Yunho shifted awkwardly next to him. “He’s stable,” Joonyoung spoke. “Has been for about five minutes now, we got his fever down so he’ll surely recover.” Yeosang looked up at him in surprise, every nerve in his body telling him to run to Wooyoung. It was the first time someone had mentioned his condition since he was whisked away. “I’ll let you see him.” Yeosang bolted up from the bed, the world swaying slightly before him, Yunho resting a hand on his back to ensure he didn’t tip over.” Joonyoung took a few steps forward, urging him to sit back down. “But, only after you get a good meal in your stomach. Then you can come back, hopefully, he’ll be awake by then.” Yeosang nodded numbly. 

“Yeah, yeah of course.” He couldn’t even find it in himself to be upset that their reunion was delayed by an hour or so. Joonyoung smiled, stepping away from the pair. 

“Dinner is about 10 minutes so you guys might want to start heading up. And Yunho, could you please ask either Mingi or San to add a little more carbs to his meal tonight?”

“Yeah of course,” Yunho said, already ushering Yeosang out the door. “I’ll also have Mingi bring you and the others down some food after.” 

“Thank you, that will be great.” 

The elevator ride back up to the main floor was quiet. Everything within Yeosang’s mind seemed to be buzzing, he wasn’t sure if it was an aftereffect of the PTSD attack or from what Joonyoung had told him. San had happily slipped Yeosang an extra slice of bread with his meal, 

_“Some of us think holding on makes us strong but sometimes it is letting go” - Herman Hesse_

Wooyoung grunted as he was pushed to the ground, a scream tearing from his lungs as a hand shredded through his back like a kid tearing open their Christmas present. “WOOYOUNG!” he turned his head to see his best friend staring at him terrified, blood trickling down his temple from where it had been scrapped open by a tree branch. One of the crawlers on top of Wooyoung launched itself towards Yeosang. Letting out an enraged roar Wooyoung rolled over, stabbing the crawler attached to his back in the abdomen, the thing let out an ear-piercing screech. He scrambled to his feet and pounced on the second monster before it could reach Yeosang. 

“GO!” He screamed just as the first crawler latched onto him yet again. Yeosang stood frozen like a deer trapped in the headlights. “YEOSANG GO!” he screamed as he blindly plunged his blade into one of the creatures. Finally, Yeosang started making his way back up the hill, breaking off into a run once he reached the top. Relief crushed Wooyoung at the realization the Yeosang was gone, that he was _safe._

He plunged the blade through one of the beast’s concave chest, sufficiently ending its murderous life. He let out a scream as we pushed back, a branch digging into his leg, severing the skin. He wildly threw a knife at the creature, but it whistled right past its head. Damnit. He moved to try and get up, but his leg screamed in protest. Wooyoung collapsed to the ground in defeat, there was no way of making it out alive. _At least Yeosang’s safe._ The crawler closed in on top of him, its breath reeked like the back of an alleyway. Clumped, greasy strands of black hair dangled in his face as he stared the beast directly in its face. Its sickly green eyes staring down at him before its jaw unhinged. _This is it,_ he thought, staring into the monster’s eyes.

A growl sounded from his left as another body slammed into the crawler on top of Wooyoung. The smaller form managed to pin the larger crawler to the ground, its mouth tearing into the flesh at its neck. Wooyoung starred in surprise as the other crawler tore apart his attacker. This new crawler was clearly newly turned, her clothes still relatively clean, her hair pulled back in a taught braid. Once she climbed off of the limp crawler, Wooyoung got a good look at her face. _“Eunha”_ he breathed, scooting away from her slightly. Her face, eerily similar to that of his best friends. 

Wooyoung struggled to his feet, picking up a larger tree branch to use as a weapon, his knives too far away. “Eunha, please” he pleaded, taking a pained step backward. She stopped, her face contorting in pain, she was fighting against the virus. In a moment of clarity, she looked up at Wooyoung with an apologetic look and smiled. He wanted to sob. Eunha was like a sister of his own, and now she was coated in blood with pieces of her flesh missing. And her eyes, they were no longer the same toffee brown that all of the Kang family seemed to have, they were that sickly green color. A snarl clawed its way from her throat, her grasp on reality fleeing from her as she charged Wooyoung. 

“Hey, hey it’s okay.” a hand gently touched Wooyoung’s wrist and he jerked back, rolling onto the hard floor. His eyes darted around the bright room, chest heaving as his instincts kicked in. Scanning for a weapon he spotted a pair of medical scissors and quickly grabbed them. He moved to stand up but stopped, looking down at his leg, white plaster covered his entire left leg. His breathing picked up when it dawned on him. He couldn’t run. 

“Wooyoung. Wooyoung look at me.” That voice-

A man crouched down in front of him, a slight wheeze escaping him at the movement. Wooyoung looked up and was faced with toffee eyes. 

_“Yeosang.”_ the other man nodded, slowly reaching a hand out and encasing his own. It was warm. 

“Yeah. It’s me,” he whispered, voice taught with emotion. Wooyoung faintly registered the scissors leaving his hand. 

_“God.”_

“Not quite.” 

Wooyoung collapsed into Yeosang’s arms with a broken chuckle. The brunet wrapped himself around the shorter, shielding him from the dangers of the world. Arms tight against his back, protecting him from his own mind that was cannibalizing itself. Wooyoung sobbed into his shoulder, fist clenched in Yeosang’s shirt.

Yeosang bit his lip in a futile attempt to hold back his own sobs. The dam finally broke, the tidal waves came crashing forward in a roar as Yeosang collapsed into his friend. They melded together in a cacophonous symphony of melancholy and joy. 

_“Home is where you go to find solace from the ever changing chaos, to find love within the confines of a heartless world, and to be reminded that no matter how far you wander, there will always be something waiting when you return.” -Kendal Rob_

After the storm of their emotions had settled down they were spent and exhausted. Their energy depleted. Joonyoung carefully moved them back onto the bed in the center of the room, he didn’t even attempt to separate the pair. After checking Wooyoung’s vitals he set down two glasses of water, turning off the lights as he left, glancing at the entangled forms sleeping on the bed. 

Wooyoung spent three days in the infirmary, most of the time spent sleeping. Yeosang barely left his side during that time. Hongjoong had cleared his schedule from any jobs, Joonyoung was practically thrilled at the prospect of Yeosang not doing manual labor. Once Wooyoung had been given the bill of good health he was assigned the other bed in Yeosang’s room. 

Getting Wooyoung settled into their room was more difficult than it should have been. They took the elevator to go down two more floors, the shorter leaning heavily against the wall and his crutches. The air between them was silent, the pair not yet accustomed to each other’s presence again. The elevator shuttered to a stop, the doors sliding open, Yeosang led the other out and towards their room. “So which one is yours?” Wooyoung asked, looking around the complex, eyes scanning the two-levels of rooms that lined the area. The brunet turned to look at his friend, a slight smile decorating his face at seeing him _alive._

“Up there,” he said pointing at a room to the left of the staircase. Glancing back at Wooyoung he let his eyes gloss over his injured leg and crutches, wincing slightly in sympathy. “Sorry it’s not one of the first level ones.” Wooyoung furrowed his eyebrows, a frown settling on his face. 

“Don’t apologize, it’s not like you made the choice.” They came to a stop at the metal staircase, Wooyoung’s chest rattled with a sigh. “Just make sure I don’t fall okay?” a teasing smirk pulling at the corners of his mouth. Yeosang nodded, settling behind him as he brought his crutches up to the first step. They made slow work of climbing the 12 stairs, and when Wooyoung did slip on one of the stairs, Yeosang was there to steady him. 

The pair steadily made their way to the room. Yeosang had barely opened the door before Wooyoung had already managed to squeeze his way through and plopped down on the bed, a sigh escaping his lips. “Yeosang-ah, this feels like heaven.” He cried rolling onto his back. The brunet let a laugh escape his lips as he moved to sit down on his own bed. Slipping off his shoes he carefully tucked his feet underneath himself, sitting criss cross. He carefully watched his friends chest rise and fall, the way his eyes twitched beneath his closed eyelids. All signs indicating that Wooyoung was _real_ and _not_ a figment of his imagination. 

“I missed you.” The words tumbled out before he could even fully process what it was that he was saying. 

Wooyoung sat up, his dark eyes staring at the other intently. He was the ghost of the person he used to know, he looked exhausted, cheeks sunken in, the dark purple under his eyes aging him. His smile was gone, his eyes more distant, or maybe that was because he was not used to reading him again. Then there was that huge scratch mark that took up a large portion of the left side of his face. Glancing back up at his eyes he could see the tears gathering in Wooyoung’s eyes. 

“I missed you too.” He whispered, voice teeming with emotion. “God- Yeosang, I-” he broke off with a strangled garbling noise as he covered his mouth with his hand. 

Yeosang was there in an instant, wrapping the shorter in his embrace, burying his nose in the dark black hair, inhaling his scent. Wooyoung grasped onto the other, burying his face in his chest. Yeosang ran a gentle hand through his hair. 

"I know. It's okay, you're here now." Wooyoung nodded into his shirt, fingers digging into his back. 

"I'm sorry it took me so long." He whispered. The phrase hung heavily in the air as tears began to fall down Yeosang's cheeks. 

"You never have to apologize for that. Never, okay?" The raven haired man nodded as he pulled out of his embrace a little, enough to look Yeosang in the eyes. 

"Okay." Yeosang smiled weakly as he cupped Wooyoung's marred cheek.

"We should sleep. I'm exhausted." Yeosang let out a false yawn as he tugged Wooyoung to lay down beside him. The shorter chuckled. 

"Alright sleeping beauty." He teased lightly, snuggling into him. 

_“There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep.” — Homer_

Yeosang woke with a start, the remnants of a dream hanging onto his mind in broken fragments. He clasped a hand over his racing heart trying to get his breathing under control. His eyes swung over to see if Wooyoung was still there, and sure enough, the other was still fast asleep. It was hard to make out his features in the dark but Yeosang felt himself relaxing the longer he looked at him. He was okay. They were both okay. They were _safe._

A small tear rolled down his cheek, soon followed by another, then another. He tried to remain quiet, not wanting to wake Wooyoung up. He roughly rubbed at his eyes as the emotions from the past couple of days finally bubbled up. He felt like he'd been crying so much lately. He buried his face in his knees, his breath hitching as a sob squeezed its way past his lips. 

Yeosang was suddenly jolted out of his thoughts as he was tackled back down onto his bed, a warm body pressing against him. He barely managed to shove down his instinct to punch the face above him. At the same time that Yeosang realized what was going on Wooyoung must've as well because he quickly crawled off of the brunet. 

_"Fuck"_ he breathed raising his hands to his hair, tugging on the rugged strands. "Fuck!" He yelled, pulling roughly on his scalp. 

Yeosang quickly snapped into action as he carefully sat up, slowly moving his hands to cover the others. 

"Woo, look at me." He pleaded, Wooyoung just shook his head, still shaking. _"Woo, please."_ He begged, carefully unraveling his hands from his hair. Carefully dark brown eyes met his own. Yeosang smiled as he moved his hands to cup Wooyoung's cheeks. "There you are." 

_"I'm sorry, I- I didn't mean to."_ A thumb rubbed over scar tissue as Yeosang whispered back. 

"I know. It's okay." Silence fell between the two, both afraid to startle the other again.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Yeosang asked, hesitantly breaking the silence. Wooyoung didn't miss the flicker of eyes towards his scarred cheek. He wasn't sure if Yeosang meant the dream or the scar, lucky for him this involved both. 

"It was when we got seperated." He whispered. He carefully moved his hand to cover the one Yeosang still had on the scar. "I got this that same night." He noted the slight furrow of Yeosang's brows at the statement. Wooyoung took a shuttering breath, his heart tugging uncomfortably at the memory. 

"That night, after I told you to run. I thought, I thought that was it. I was injured and outnumbered. But,Eunha-" Yeosang let out a gasp at his sister's name. "-she saved me. She killed the damn thing that had me pinned before she fully turned." Wooyoung squeezed his eyes shut, he hated thinking about this night, he hated how things had ended. 

"But she couldn't fight it for long. She gave me this." He motioned towards the claw mark. His heart felt heavy, he needed to get this next part out. The guilt had been clawing at him for months. "Yeosang, I- I killed her." He felt Yeosang freeze, Wooyoung refused to look at him, his blood running cold. 

_"Wooyoung."_

No, no, he shouldn't sound that hurt. That hurt over _Wooyoung._

_"Woo,_ I- you had too." Wooyoung shook his head, nails digging into the brunet's hand. He refused to look at Yeosang. He had _murdered_ his _sister._ "Wooyoung, if you hadn't, she would've killed you too. E-Eunha was already dead." He stuttered over his sister's name but he wouldn't let this go, not until he made Wooyoung understand. "Listen, we all had to do things out there that we didn't want to. I know you wouldn't want to hurt her, but you had to. _Christ,_ I'm just so glad you're alive." The shorter finally dared to look the other in his eyes, and what he found wasn't what he had expected. Yeosang was staring at him with so much love and concern. 

"I'm not who I used to be." Yeosang pulled Wooyoung closer, wrapping him up in a tight hug. 

"Neither of us are." 

_"Wholeness does not mean perfection: it means embracing brokenness as an integral part of life." – Parker J. Palmer_

**Author's Note:**

> I had a lot of fun with this, it was a bit different from how I usually write but I think overall, it turned out pretty alright


End file.
